Saturday, August 23, 2014

We rode to Wetmore, Kansas.. It was 114 miles from my home here in Olathe/Overland Park.. This is North of Topeka on the road that goes to Omaha..... The cafe wasn't anything really special.. I had a small biscuit and gravy with a side of sausage...

We left KC at 7:30 and went thru the rush hour traffic to get out of town... But the main attraction in Wetmore is the car museum.. It looks like a Chrysler dealer outside but it turns out that's just a historic sign... They had all kinds of cars...

This is in the wrong order, but this is the city hall with the post office next door...

I don't know all of the years, but this is a Cadillac..

1957 T Bird

1957 hardtop convertible Ford

1946 Chevy Pickup... IF they would have sold it to me I would bring this one home....

Early 50s Chevy pickup

Willys Overland Jeepster about 1950

Nash "Hey buddy how do you get this thing out of second gear...? Beep beep!"

Pegasus gas pump..... Those are worth a fortune these days...

My riding partner Al in his orange safety shirt...

The owner purchased a historical gas station next door and it is part of the display... The car is an Oldsmobile from the late 30s

Oldsmobile had the V 8 Rocket motors before any other GM product.... Note the overhead valve engine.... Fords were still all flat heads..

Mustang... I wonder what he had to pay for this little jem...

Inside the old gas station...

This was down in the basement of the car dealership museum... He found it in a barn somewhere in Kansas... It hasn't been restored yet... just washed up some.... Oldsmobile about 1968 or 69 2 door hardtop... Note no post...

It was well into the 90s when we left town about 11 AM... We rode back to Atcheson for about an hour and a half but got quite hot by then.... Stopped at a McDonalds...... For about an hour... to cool off.

The next jaunt was down to Platte City just North of the KCI airport.... Again we were dying from the heat and stopped at another McDonalds for more ice water... And this time an ice cream cone...

The last jaunt was back home on I 435 at 75 mph... By then it was 97 degrees and the wind felt like dragon breath.... It was almost 5 PM when I got back... But Biscuit was over at Ben's house in the A/C so she never missed me a bit!

Monday, August 18, 2014

Once back from that RV trip up to Iowa, things here in KC kind of got all slow and laid back... Well except for the motorcycle rides.... And knowing that those aren't real popular to read about, I went into blogger standby...

So lets catch up all at once on those rides... I went on three last week... First on Tuesday we stayed in the local KC area and only rode over to Blue Springs.. About an hour over there, and mostly on the perimeter interstate that surrounds our metro area... The place was called little Richards and was kind of a hunting lodge place... I counted 30 deer heads mounted along the walls... A sign outside had the picture of a hand gun pointed at you with the inscription "Heck with the dog....Beware of owner".. You know a real Missouri kind of a place.... I'll get into trouble for that comment, I'm sure.

I had a hot tenderloin sandwich... The small one that was only 8 inches around... Served Hot Beef style on wonder bread with mashed potatoes in the middle... Completely smothered in chicken gravy... I left most of the potatoes, but cleaned the rest of the sandwich from the plate... About 10 million calories.....

On Wednesday we rode over 90 miles thru the countryside in Kansas to Americus... This is down by Emporia, but we took all two lane roads... The morning was cool and the ride was never over 60 mph.. This restaurant was more of a cheers bar, called the New Breck Cafe.. Here I got a Jucy Lucy style hamburger... The one with the two patties of burger and a big gob of cheese sealed into the middle.... You bit into the burger and the cheese oozzed out all over almost burning your face..... I passed on the fries though and had cottage cheese...

But then on the way back we went thru Dover, Ks where we had been several weeks prior, knowing that they had fresh hand made pie... They make sugar free, which means that I can have some... And the peaches are fresh off of the trees now.... Hot with a big dollop of cool whip... Knowing all the restaurants in all the towns has its perks............ or drawbacks depending on how you look at it...

Well on Thursday we took a break from the restaurant scene, but I ended up over in Lawrence, Ks to get a new front tire put on the bike at a shop over there... I have 12,000 miles and that is about the limit for cycle tires.. They are really soft rubber and do not last like car tires... I ended up in McDonalds for lunch that day...

Then on Friday, we rode straight South of the city to Moran, Ks.... Chancy's Grill.... This time my friend Al convinced his wife Sharon to ride along... Chancy's wasn't much to write about, as it was just a grill on the corner of US 54 and US 59... But it was the first time that Sharon had gone along with us.. I'm not sure she was overly impressed......... We did stop at the McDonalds in Ottawa, Ks on the way back for an Ice Cream Cone... That was probably the highlight of that day other than the rain that plagued the morning as we left town...

Biscuit had the chance to go over to Ben's house and play with the grandkids on their last day of summer vacation before school started last week.... They must have led her all over the neighborhood because she was out like a light all of the next day.... She really likes her grandkid adventures..

And on Saturday we had an impromptu party over at Chris' home that lasted into the evening when his neighborhood put on a block party with the street blocked off at the corner... Lots of grills out in the street with coolers at the end of driveways.... The usual KC kind of thing..... I left before midnight, but reports were that things went well beyond that....

So the activities abound here, but today I was out mowing the yard... Had to get that over with as tomorrow we are off to Appleton City over in Missouri.... That's another 80 miles or so and it is to be in the 90s... We are nuts, I think...

Saturday, August 9, 2014

I camped at the Acorn Valley COE campground for 6 nights and never moved the motorhome once to drain or take on water.... And I showered every day during that time.... Of course it is just me camping alone so I could scrimp on water usage...

I have many friends in the Des Moines area and I tried to attend a lunch or a supper with each of them, but time was limited... Oh and it rainded quite hard on Wednesday and was only in the high 60s so with the A/C turned off, I got to try out that electric water heater. And I was proud as punch when the water became so hot it almost burned me!

Finally I just left the heater on electric when it warmed back up outside enough to use the A/C again.. So I was running the one air unit and the electric fridge, electric water heater and the 12 volt converter running all the stuff like lights and the water pump...

I kept thinking the breaker in the park box would go, but it never did..

They had a lot of rain there on Wednesday and Thursday.. Some places with over three inches.. Put a rather large damper in the beginning activities of the fair. I usually don't like the crowds associated with the fair experience, so while several folks suggested that I go, I managed to pass on the experience..

Loyce's younger sister Betsy came out for Friday evening and we made a nice campfire from some of her fireplace wood... We did hot dogs and chatted it up for a couple of hours until the fire burned down.... That greatly improved the camp experience for Biscuit and I..

So on Saturday I packed it up and came on home... Well after using the dump station.. My tank indicators aren't reliable so they still said the holding tanks were empty.. But The gray water ran and ran trying to empty itself..

Ben and Danielle and the kids came over and helped me unload all my stuff after their supper tonight... That makes all the difference in the world.. They make 5 trips at once with that many people, so in no time flat we were headed back to storage with the rig... My neighbors will have nothing to complain about... I wonder what they will do....?

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Well I'm glad that's done..... I exclaimed that as I was washing the white corrosion powder off of my hands... Powder that collects inside of your RV water heater... I chased over to my motorhome dealer here in Des Moines, Iowa yesterday and purchased a new electric heating element....

And yes, by the way I am in Des Moines with the motorhome... I pulled the jeep behind on the way up here on Sunday afternoon... Its fair week and sites are at a real premium here in central Iowa... But the park behind the National Weather Service office on Saylorville Lake is non reserve-able... So arriving on Sunday night was a good shot that I would duck in behind a weekender...

This is a Core of Engineers camp ground, Acorn Valley... Almost primitive, as I only have 30 amp and no other hook ups.... So one A/C only and run the rest off of gas... I'm running the fridge on electric as well, and haven't popped the breaker yet... I can stay here for 14 days, so I am good to go all thru the fair which ends on Sunday the 17th... But that's not why I came...

The price here is $18 a night but with an old folks Geezer card its only $9... So I'm not paying much for my limited hook up site either.... Sooo what about that water heater..

Yesterday I went and got the heating element that didn't work this spring.... I think I burned it out... not having enough water in the heater... But then I don't know about that as when I pulled the element out of the tank it was totally corroded off like an anode element... Just gone! Two stubs sticking out from the screw in part... They must give up over time as well.

The RV dealership didn't have the special tool in stock to sell me, and the parts guy didn't seem to know what his mechanics did to get the element out.... I went to Sears and purchased a big socket 1 1/2 inches on 3/4 drive, but that wouldn't go into the recessed part of the tank where the element is mounted...

So this morning at 8 AM I was driving over to Ankeny, Iowa to yet another RV dealership.... They had a full camper store out along the front of their building and that lady walked right over to the peg board and handed me the right special tool... Well so much for my dealer that sold me the rig..

Shorewood RV is out of Anoka, Mn and runs the Thermo King franchise taking care of fridge units on the front of semi trailers... RVs are done by the wife as a side line.. A Multi million dollar RV dealership that is a side line... ?

Anyway after three trips to town for wire connectors and to take the Sears tools back.. Its all back together with the new heating element... But I can't even try it! Electric water heaters draw 1440 watts.... That's 12 Amps... I'm still on one 30 amp plug in... I switched it on momentarily with the A/C compressor off, and it seemed to draw power and nothing shorted out or blew a fuse... So I hope I got it... But I had to go back to gas to heat things up and take a shower...

Also I will need to go over to the fresh water station in the next couple of days as I had to drain the 10 gallons of water that was in the heater on the ground... So my holding tanks won't fill up but the fresh water will be gone anyway..

I am here checking out the placement of Loyce's new headstone and the marker they put on the stone... We have had a time getting the job done, and I have lost some faith. So without looking at it for myself I can't trust.... Of course that was a sad job... And I had lost an uncle about three weeks after Loyce passed and he is buried in the next row over.. I couldn't bear to go to his service, as we would have been standing on Loyce's fresh grave while we laid him to rest.... Just was not strong enough for that one...

Anyway the one thing COE parks do have is the out in the woods factor... Or the "it" factor if you read Howard and Linda's blog.... Its about 50 feet to the next site and the poison ivy is right in the mower line behind the camper... The trees are so dense that you can't see the lake from the camp ground even though it is only 500 yards away...

I went down in the tent part of the campground and there you can see the lake thru the trees, but they have a great big tall fence to keep you from getting to the waters edge... This is a reservoir and the banks are steep from the river current and large fluctuations in water level... Somebody would fall off into water over their head, so here's your fence!